The Friedrichses (and Mortons and Remsens)

Mom and Dad with the full clan. Almost everybody is looking at the camera.

Cousins

In Colorado.

For comparison

Paul and Matt, summer of 1975.

Colorado

Bernadette, Daniel and Isaiah eating breakfast with Poppa and Grandma at Lisa and Mort's house in Colorado.

Wedding attire

Breckenridge for Ragnar and Brittney's festivities.

Check the title

How to ...

... Listen to the Beatles. He's drumming along with his hands.

Stickers

Fake mustaches also make great unibrows.

Singing

Isaiah
(Sung while decorating Uncle Jim's birthday card with dinosaur stamps.  The first two lines are sung to the tune of "This Land is Your Land."  The third line is more like a rapid chant.)
Never hurry
And never worry
And never go messing about in my stamps.

Bernadette
(Sung while lying in bed during nap time, waiting for sleep to come.)
I got peers lie gorilla
I got peers lie gorilla
I got peers lie gorilla
In my soul.

Notes

Bernadette really likes purple. And pink, too. But especially purple. She's still chatty in her own language, but she's also repeating sentences back to us. And she can replicate rhythms and melodies and songs after hearing them once or twice. Often she does this with her own words or shorthand.


At dinner, a fussy Kateri refuses to be calmed. Finally, she nurses. And then Bernadette becomes upset because something is wrong with her drink or her food. Kateri pops up, now happy and looks over. "Feeling some schadenfreude, Kateri," I say. She smiles broadly.


Sometimes when you are 4 months old a lamp catches your attention and you talk to it with all your pre-verbal abilities.


On a day of snow
As ice builds on rocks in streams
Store sign: summer hours


You've heard of rage against the machine? This morning Bernadette is rage to her mother's machine.


The whisper of tiny snow pellets hitting paper-dry leaves clinging to a tree in January: the continuous sound of thousands of unsynchronized tiny snare drums, audible no more than five feet away.


 Just a note about the house rules: the two older Friedrichs children are now banned from playing with forks.


Isaiah: Please write a note to Peter and Magda and tell them I want pirates next Christmas.    


The most amusing thing a 3-month-old has ever seen: Her older sister jumping on the bed and singing.


Sung loudly with a growl: "we are pirates sailing on a silver sea (treacherous pirates)"


Isaiah's career plans: be a quilt maker and when he's too old for that he'll be a race car driver.


How you know the conditions are perfect: The sled wants to go before you even sit down.    

Negotiations

Isaiah: Can we watch a movie tomorrow night?

Mama [puzzled]: You mean tonight?

I: No, tomorrow night.

M [still puzzled]: Well, maybe, but why not tonight?

I: Oh, all right. I suppose that will do.

The other side

Tunnel

One of two we dug all the way through the pile. There is a girl in front of Isaiah.

Snow

Bernadette took her enforced 5 minutes of fresh air and went inside. Isaiah is still building.

Noses

Breakfast club

Or coffee and cuteness

Glamor

The glamor girl ready for a Friday night on the town.

A story

Bouncy

Been awhile since I edited any video. I can assure you this one is worth it.

Dangling modifiers

Isaiah shares a moment with Kateri. He's become sweetly interested in her of late, especially in the mornings while we hang out on the couch.